Car-fender.



No. 050,702. Patented May 29, |900. R. F. PREussEn.

C A R F E N D E R (Application led Dec. 23, .1899.)

3 Sheets-Sheet l.

(No Model.)

Wibwssesn Inventors his attorngy.

No. 650,762. Patented May 29, |900.

H. F. PREUSSER.

cme FENDER.

A (Application filed B ec. 23, 1899..) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

No. 650,762. Patented Maj 29, |900; R. F. PREUSSER.

CAR FENDER.

(Application tiled Dec. 2B, 1899.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-$heat 3.

Witnessesx Inventor, f

O, @wm/W4, RimvFPreusseT,

M2M ff IT il rrnn Tnfrns y s 'cAR-FeNnEe.

srE'cIFrcATioN forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,762, cated May 29,1900. Application filed December 23, 1899. Serial No. 741,425. (liomodel.)

To all whom it may concern/f Be it known that I, RICHARD F. PREUssER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District ofColumbia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements inOar-Fenders; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object is to present a car-fender which shall be light and simple ofconstruction and capable of attachment to and detachment from cars ofgeneral construction, which shall be readily responsive to pressure tocause it to be projected into such relation to the roadbed as to pick upan object struck, and which when not in use may be folded back againstthe dashboard of a `car, and thus be out of the way of the coupler;furthermore, to present a combined fender and wheel-guard, the twodevices being connected in such manner as to be adapted at the same timeand with rapidity, ease, and certainty of operation to be brought intoposition for use.

The invention consists in the novel construction of a wheel-guard and ofa combined wheel-guard and fender, as will be hereinafter fullydescribed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speciiication, andin which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, Figurel is a view in perspective displaying the front portion of a street carequipped with the fender. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a carequipped with a combined fender and wheel-guard. Fig. 3 is a view inelevation, partly in section, displaying the connection between theparts of the two devices, the section being taken to one side of thefender. Fig. Li is a perspective detail view of the fender andwheel-guard-operating shaft. Fig. 5 is a detail view displaying amodiiied form of hanger.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the fender, and B thewheel-guard.

The fender-frame is constructed of two arms or side pieces a, renderedrigid by a cross-bar d2, connecting the outer portions of the arms, thebar for lightness and from a standpoint of economy being constructedtubular, although, if preferred, it may be made of a solid bar of metal.In the form herein shown the bar carries two T-Shaped joints a3, whichsupport the arms a, the latter by preference being also of tubularmetal. Each fender-arm is straight, or practically so, and is providedat its rear end with two frictionrollers d4, adapted to bear upon thehangerarms C, hereinafter to be described, whereby friction betweenthese parts will be reduced to a minimum. Upon each arm is placed acoiled spring a5, the terminal coil of one end bearing against thehanger C and theterminal coil of the other end being secured to the arm,as by being passed through an opening therein. (Clearly shown in Fig.3.) While the general shape of the arms and the arrangement of thesprings as herein shown is that which will usually be preferred, it isto be understood that the invention is not to be limited to this preciseconstruction, as other designs may be employed without departing fromthe spirit thereof.

Secured to the cross-bar a2 are two forwardprojecting arms d6,constituting the sides of a scoop, these arms being connected andrendered rigid by cross-bars a7 and d8, the front bar as being bypreference solid in order to present the greatest resistance to bendingor buckling, and the bar a7 being by preference tubular for the sake oflightness, and in order that the front bar may further be braced againstbending or buckling, as by contact with an obstruction, Lbrace plates orbars a9 are employed, the same being provided with recesses, in whichrest the bars a2 a7 as, the recesses for the bars a2 and as being in theends of the plates andthose for the bar a7 on the under side of theplates. It is to be understood that instead of employing recesses forthe purpose described the plates may be provided with openings to beengaged by the bars. The floor of the scoop is constructed, preferably,of a series of thin metallic strips secured in any suitable manner tothe bars a2 and as.

To limit the downward movement of the fender and at the same time toprevent injury that would occur by the scoop coming into contact withthe road-bed, the bar a7 is provided with rollers to contact withtheroadbed.

The net am may be made of any suitable IOC material,in this instance ofconnected links, or of links and plates, the net being connected at itsbottom to the bar a2 and at its sides to chains a, At its upper side thenet is connected to the top bar al?, having its ends bent uponthemselves to form loops a, in which the upper links of the chains auare confined, and then at right angles to said loops to form pintles a,by which thc'fender is held in operative position, aswill presentlyappear.

As a means for supporting the fender in position for operation twohangers C are employed, these being securely bolted to the under side ofthe car-licor, as clearly shownin Fig. 3. To facilitate removal of thehanger from the car should the hanger become damaged, the upper end ofeach hanger is formed with a dovetailed or undercut projection e, whichengages with a plate c2, provided with a dovetailed groove, the platebeing secured to the under side of the car, and through the projectionand the plate passes a bolt c, by which the parts are held assembled inconnection with the bottom of the car. The hangers are by preferencemade of a strong resilient metal, such as boiler-steel, and each isformed at its bottom into a forward-andrcarward-curvcd hook, in the loopot which work the rollers Ct, the lower end of the hook being slotted toreceive the lside arms a. Thus when pressure is applied to the scoop, aswhen an object is struck, the friction-rollers will move back on thelower curved portion of the hooks and will by the springs a5 hecushioned7 so that the force of the blow will be lessened. Thisarrangement of supporting the fender from the hangers presents points ofadvantage in the simplicity of its construction and also in thereadiness with which the fender may be detached from the hanger whennecessary.

Near the upper portion of each hanger is located a pair of lugs orbosses c4, between which is pivoted a bracket c, each bracket at itslower end being provided with a toe or projection c, which extendsthrough a slot provided in the hanger for the purpose, so that themovement of the bracket is limited by contact of the toe with the upperwall of such slot. The brackets are thus adapted for movement in acircumscribed are, their rearward movement being limited by contact withthe face of the hangers and their forward movement by contact of the toecG with the wall of -tl1e slot. It is to be understood that I do notlimit myself to the precise manner of mounting the brackets, as otherarrangements may be employed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

Supported by hangers d, secured to the under side of the car-floor, is atransverse shaft E, which carries two levers c2, secured to the 'underside of the shaft and incliniug downward and forward toward the front ofthe fender, and two levers c3, which are secured to the upper side ofthe shaft and are inclined upward and rearward away from the fender, thetwo pairs of levers being set on the shaft at such distance apart as tobring them into alinement for proper connection with the fender andwheel-guard. The shaft E is by preference rectangular in cross-sectionand has its end formed into pintles to work in bearings formed in thehangers (l. To the lower portion Yof each lever e2 is secured one end ofa chain al, the other end of which is connected with the cross-bar a7,as by a hook. To the upper ends of the levers e3 are pivotally connectedlinks b, the free ends oi' which are similarly connected to the sidearms b2 ofthe wheel-guard B. This guard comprises in this instance twocross-bars b3 b4, the former of which is mounted in bearings formed inbrackets lr", suitably supported from the car, both of the bars b3 andb4 being secured in any desired manner to the side arms 112. The barsare connected, preferably, by resilient metallic strips tf', forming thescoop7 although other materials may be employed in lieu of the strips.

It will be observed that the upper and longer portion of the side armsb2 are curved or inclined away from the bar D, which constitutes thepivotal point of the guard, so that the bulk of the weight of these armsbeing to one side of the bar b3 they will act adjunctively with thesprings a4 on thel fender to keep the guard at the proper distance abovethe track.

Secured to the shaft E is an arln e4, the free end of which is providedwith a slot, in which works the lower end of a foot-lever F, the upperend ot which projects above the ioor oi' the car adjacent to thedashboard and has a head j", by which the lever may be depressed.Journaled on the foot-lever above the arm are two friction-rollers f2,(only one being shown and indicated in dotted lines,) which bear uponthe arm on each side of the slot, and below the arm is a stop-pin f3,which serves to hold the arm against separation from the level'.

It will be seen that when pressure is applied to the foot-lever theshaft E will Vbe rocked, thus drawing the levers e3 backward andprojecting the fender downward into operative engagement with theroad-bed and the levers c2 forward and in like manner projecting thewheel-guard down into operative position with the road-bed.

The device thus fardescribed is a combined fender and wheel-guard; but,as shown in Fig. 2, the wheel-guard may be dispensed with and the fenderalone used. When this arrangement is adopted, it will only be necessaryto detach the link b and levers e3 and remove the wheel-guard', or, ifthe car be constructed without the wheel-guard, then the levers e3 willbe omitted.

Instead of employing the form of hanger shown in Figs. 1, 2, and S-thatis, one in which the fender-supporting hook curves toward the rear ofthe car-l may, as shown in IOO IIO

Fig. 5, employ a hanger the supporting-hook of which curves toward thefront of the oar, the advantage of this latter form of hanger residingin the fact that the fender may readily be lifted out of engagementtherewith without requiring detachment of the hangers from the car,which will be necessary when the form of hanger shown in Figs. 1, 2, and3 is employed. It is also to be understood that instead of having thechains L15 pass over the rod a2 and hook into engagement with thecross-bar a7, and thus over the scoop, they may pass under the scoop andbe hooked into engagement with the cross-bar a7. It will be observedthat the are of movement of the outer ends of the chains 0,15 isconcentric with the lower ends of the levers e2, so that in lifting thefender to fold it back against the dashboard it will not be necessary todetach the chains from the scoop, as would be necessary if the two partsmoved in different aros.

Having thus fullyfdescribed my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a ear-fender, of hangers provided with curved,bifu rcated projections, fender-arms having friction-rollers to engagethe said projections, brackets pivotally connected with the hangers, andhaving a circumscribed arc of movement, and chains connecting thebrackets and the fender, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a car-fender, of hangers provided withforwardextending curved, bifurcated projections, fender-arms havingfriction-rollers to engage the said projections, brackets pivotallyconnected with the hangers, and having a circumscribed arc of movement,and chains connecting the brackets and the fender, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination with a car-fender, of hangers provided withrearward-extending dovetailed or undercut projections, andforward-extending curved bifureated projections, fender-arms havingfriction-rollers to engage the said latter projections, bracketspivotally connected with the hangers, and having a eircumscribed arc ofmovement, chains connecting the brackets and the fender, plates securedto the under side of the ear, and having dovetailed or undercut groovesto be engaged by the rearward-extending projections of the hangers, andmeans for holding the hangers and the plates assembled, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a ear-fender, hangers provided with curved projections,fender-supporting arms having friction-rollers to engage theprojections, a rock-shaft carrying-levers and means for actuating therock-shaft, and chains connecting the lower ends of the levers and thefront portion of the fender, the arc of movement of the outer ends ofthe chains being concentric with the lower ends of the levers, whereby,in lifting the fender to fold it back against the dashboard of a car, itwill not be necessary to disconnect the chains from the fender,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflx my signature in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

RICHARD F. PREUSSER.

Witnesses:

R. G. DYRENFORTH, R. M. ELLIOTT.

